French mantel clock movements - compatibility between "makers" ?

[rjenkinsgb]

Hi,

a friend has a clock from around the late 1800s, which has a wheel in the strike mechanism that has lost some teeth.

The movement is stamped Vincenti & Cie. I've looked for one of these for a couple of years & eventually found one that looked idenical, but turned out to be slightly smaller. 

 

While comparing the two I found a clear visual distinction between them - the upper pillar is hidden behind the pendulum suspension bracket on the larger one, while it's visible at the side on the smaller one.

Searching ebay further, I found numerous movements that looked identical to the smaller one, but apparently from different makers?

Then one identical in appearance to the larger one, which the seller confirmed was the same ~90mm diameter - but again from a different maker!

 

I've received that this morning and it does appear that the main movement (disregarding the differences for a different case fitting) is absolutely identical.

 

Were these all made to standard patterns and the named makers part of some cooperative, or something like that? I was originally expecting each make to be quite different in detail, even if broadly similar in general photos.

 

The details in these two are just too well matched to be coincidence - even extra hole just above the centre and the dot makings to identify the removable pivot blocks seems standardised??

 

(These & the slightly smaller serviced one in my intro post are the only clocks I've examined or worked on, so my knowledge is rather minimal)

 

I will post separately about the damaged wheel and either movement substitution or repairing the wheel.

Thanks, Robert.

 

 

Vincenti & Cie movement:

 

 

 

 

HP & Co movement:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[watchweasol]

Hi Robert. Like a clown I missed the pictures. Measure the distance between the pivots and the pitch of the teeth  I might have one as I have a drawer with some french clock bits in  

Hi Robert. Like a clown I missed the pictures. Measure the distance between the pivots and the pitch of the teeth  I might have one as I have a drawer with some french clock bits in.   Previous repair broken down, as it runs directly on the barrel there is a lot of torque and it broke

[rjenkinsgb]

OK thanks, will do - I'll strip it down tonight, hopefully.

The distance between plates is 30mm, but I cannot measure the diameter or pitch while the movement is assembled.

[oldhippy]

I have restored hundreds of French clocks. I know what you are saying that they look alike and yes they do but fitting pats in to another not so easy, there is 9 times out of 10 some difference. As for wheels you have depth, wheel count pinion count, as already mentioned length and pivot length diameter of the wheel and it has to be in the same position.